we don't care about them. host: you have heardhis de before. guest: i am a political reporter. we were talking about the policy implications of this legislation. it is important for people to know what is being debated on immigration reform, but also the sticking points when it comes to policy. i do live in washington d.c., but i grew up in south texas on the texas-mexican border and i have been covering immigration reform for more than a decade. i know a thing or two when it comes to this type of issue, when it comes to talking about border security and undocumented immigrants who want a pathway to citizenship, as well as employers who are looking for some type of way to ensure they are not employing illegal immigrants. host: is there any way to effectively control over 12,000 miles of sea coast? last call, new york city, democrats line with mark murray.

good morning. caller: >> good morning. your program is very interesting on sunday morning. obama promised to close guantanamo, and now there are over 40 people, prisoners on hunger strikes, including quite a few of them being forced fed. can you comment on that, mr. murray? guest: yes, the guantanamo bay prison does remain open and there are people reporting and experiencing that this is not a fair system, it is not justified for them to be able to do.

president obama made this a big priority of his during the 2008 presidential campaign. congress was unwilling to work with him one way or the other on that, and that is the reason why it still remains open and it is kind of a sore for him as well as capitol hill, washington, and a lot of the legal community. host: rewinding history, the bush museum let you decide. a number of exhibits, including a complete replica of the oval office. at a cost of $250 million. the dedication ceremony will take place on thursday.

president obama will join all living former presidents at this event. there is a related piece this morning in the washington post. this is from a professor at the u.s. naval academy in annapolis, maryland. the use of history, ideology as a political weapon, which means the corruption of history as history. bush may or may not have been a great president. he may be considered average or below average, but the nation deserves better than this partisan rush to judgment. guest: one thing worth noting is that history does change a lot of times. people who are down in history can be judged later and have a renaissance. sometimes when history changes, world events change. perceptions of a president can change.

35% view george w. bush in a positive light. right now there seems to be a negative judgment, but it remains to be seen if it changes over time. certainly his political legacy is going to be front and center at this library being unveiled on thursday. host: he says he hopes that jeb bush runs for president. guest: that is what a good brother should always do. all indications are that jeb bush may be thinking about a al

whether he decides to make a run is something we will find out later on. we have a lot of time before 2016. there is this early jockeying taking place. we talked about rand paul earlier, marco rubio and his maneuverings. is a fascinating story, but we will not have any kind of definite conclusion for another couple of years. >> the university of texas in austin, you had the lbj library. did that impact your studies, and will we see that at smu? >> i was able to take some graduate courses affiliated with the lbj school. at the time a historian was doing additional research on

lbj. the lbj library had lectures they were hosting that i was able to partake in as a student. noted hiorerstmerican presents. as areatit wxperience. i think a lot of smu students will like being so close to all the history that was involved with george w. bush. host: mark murray, thanks very on ther stopping by.>> next "washington journal", a look at the effects of the bombings in boston, the immigration debate and how immigration laws changed after 9/11. then a discussion about federal and state health care exchanges with jenny gold kaiser health news. and the elimination of more than $40 billion in tax breaks to oil and gas companies in the president's 2014 budget request. we talk with antho ctiof oombg government.

washington journ live at 7:00 a.m. eastern, on c-span. >> kat zhou are second prize winners in c-span's student cam competition. they attend eastern middle school in silver spring, maryland. in their video, they asked the president to make the economy and deficit reduction a priority in 2013. >> we face the greatest challenge of all. a massive debt that is smothering growth and is exceeding the entire size of our company. >> we see now a fiscal mess that affects all of us. >> the nation is on the road to bankruptcy. >> balance the federal budget now. >> these are very big, very political and policy decisions. >> those create large ongoing deficits into the future. >> we must reduce the deficit, which is strangling our economic growth. >> it would affect a lot of different people in a lot of different ways. >> well, there is change and then there is change.

>> it is time that we raise the bar. >> def >> the deficit is how our s. >> next estion. >> i'm pretty sure it has to do with the economy and the government. >> lack of something. >> the debt. >> the deficit is the debt in our country. >> it is debt that is owed to other countries that we can't pay. >> i really have no idea what the deficit is. >> although much of the younger generation is unaware of what exactly the deficit is, the issue is still an enormous factor in the nation, economy, and our future. >> dear mr. president, in order for the united states to continue sustaining the life of freedom and liberty, amending the growing deficit and debt should be the most important issue to consider in your presidential term. >> at the moment, our future is constantly on our minds.

from school to extracurriculars like athletics and art most of what we do is part of our preparation for a better future. it is important to us. >> in the united states, the economy is a significant part of our society. buying, selling, trading, borrowing, and using money to fuel economic growth locally and nationally. it eventually leads us to stability and prosperity of our future. >> the economy is the most important activity in any society. when you buy stuff, when you go to work, school, when you buy a house, when you go to the bank and deposit your money -- it is all part of economic activity. >> however, the economy is recently weakening due to heavy deficit and debt. the federal deficit is at more than $1 trillion. the resulting national debt is at more than $16 trillion. stephen bell, a senior director of the bipartisan policy desk

says that the debt has been accumulating so much that the economy is at a high risk. >> our debt is the percentage of gdp. in the last 30 or 40 years, it >> our debt is the percentage of g inr yearst has en less than 40%. itly in recent years that we have seen it climb. the fact is we are entering dangerous territory. >> deborah solomon of the "bloomberg view" says that the policymakers are arguing and debating over causes but missing the main culprit -- a shellshocked u.s. economy. >> joshua gordon says that the deficit is continuing to expand because of job loss, causing less revenue and more spending on aid programs. >> you have a large deficit for four years because you have low revenues and people don't have jobs, or they're getting paid less. but also we have this mandatory spending program, which grow on autopilot. unemployment compensation, food stamps programs, medicaid-- they